Along with managing the police’s £260m budget, charging precepts to councils and picking chief constables, returning police and crime commissioner Ms Baird said there are many branches to her job.

It includes scrutinising the police force, running its buildings, investing its money and managing its estate.

She is also its public face and attends meetings with bodies including tenants associations.

Vera Baird is reelected Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria Police with a majority vote at the Sunderland Tennis Centre

The role was brought in by the coalition Government after the 2010 elections and the first vote was held in November 2012, during which Ms Baird was selected as Northumbria Police’s PCC and Ron Hogg was elected to represent Durham Constabulary.

PCCs replaced Police Authorities, which were made up of members whose job was to oversee the running of police forces.

The aim with PCCs was to make forces more accountable to the people they serve.

More than twice as many voted in this year’s PCC elections than in 2012. This, Ms Baird said in her acceptance speech is proof that “they have seen over the last three-and-a-half years it can be used to make a difference in their lives.”

Speaking after the election, she said: “I hope it shows confidence in me. I tell myself that it does. The public have seen what I have done, have faith in it and want me to do more.”

“The role I think, still, is hard to understand. It’s not the ordinary English electoral role like an MP or a councillor.”

But it is “still a new and unusual” position for the public to get to grips with, in Ms Baird’s words.